[SOLVED] Help!! Synaptic and other weirdness

[Don]

I have identical desktops upstairs and down. K20.04, Windows 10 VM (Workstation). Except they're not, at least today. There are two differences. First, when I pull up synaptic on Upstairs, it is unreadable; all the characters are odd little boxes with gibberish in them. Downstairs is fine. Second, I have a Logitech 9000 webcam. Downstairs is fine. Upstairs: not detected. (I've tried several USB connections.)

I'm in a bit of a time bind. I'm supposed to teach a Zoom class next Tuesday, and I really need to do that Upstairs. If anyone has an idea what might be going on, I'd love to hear it. Alternately, I have two fallback plans and would value opinions. (1) Reinstall 20.04 on Upstairs. I know how to do that while retaining my home directory. (2) The d'oh method: take Downstairs upstairs, which I certainly can do.

If I sound lost, it's because I am. If I sound frantic, it's because I'm approaching that. (I've never had to teach remotely, and I suspect doing so effectively is a pretty steep learning curve for any class that's not straight lecture. My classes are all interactive, not least because I'm a lousy lecturer.)

Thanks for listening.

[Don]

Got the webcam working. Synaptic is still unusable. I have purged and reinstalled it. No joy.

[jlittle]

Synaptic is still unusable...on Upstairs, it is unreadable; all the characters are odd little boxes with gibberish in them

I'd try clearing the icon cache, sometimes it fixes this kind of problem; delete ~/.cache/icon-cache.kcache, and log out and back in.

[Don]

Thanks, John. I tried that, but no luck. Here's a screen shot of the Synaptics screen I see. It's difficult to see on the document, but inside each of the boxes is a four-digit code for whatever character should be appearing there. Other ideas?

[oshunluvr]

Those look like place holders for missing fonts. Check your GTK settings (or change them and change them back) and font installs. Make sure both computers are same-same

[Don]

I tried reinstalling GTK, but that had no effect. I never intentionally changed anything with respect to GTK (but I'm reluctant to sound like the user who, when asked what the user did just before the trouble began, responds "Nothing!" I always then ask them what they were doing just before doing nothing.) As to the GTK settings, I'm not sure where they are. If you can direct me to the file(s), I can post the contents. Thanks.

[Snowhog]

Launch System Settings. In the search box type GTK then click on Application Style. Click on Configure GNOME/GTK Application Style...

Click the GTK theme: drop-down selection button and select a different theme. Click the Apply button. Launch and check Synaptic. If it fixed the issue, you can either keep the new GTK theme, or repeat the process and re-select the previous theme, and again, launch and check Synaptic.

[Don]

Snowhog, I tried that. (Searching in System Settings did nothing, but Application Style is in the general window.) The fix you suggested did not have any effect, but it may be that I need to reboot the system. I'm in the middle of a zoom conference and so cannot do that right now. (Note, however, that I seem to be able to tear myself away enough to respond to your message!)

[Snowhog]

A reboot wouldn't be required. I don't think that you would need to logout/login from the Desktop either. Changing Themes is/should be instant.
What Desktop and Icon Themes are you using? Are they the same on both PCs?

[Don]

Absolutely identical on both machines.
Global Theme: Kubuntu
Plasma Style: Kubuntu
Application Style: Breeze
Colors: Breeze
Icons: Breeze
Cursors: Redglass

[Snowhog]

You’ve already said you’d tried reinstalling Synaptic. Reinstalling a program doesn’t overwrite existing configuration files in your user account. So if something in those configuration settings is messed up, a reinstall will use those files/settings.

What you can try is deleting the hidden Synaptic config directory in your user /home (without Synaptic running) and then launching Synaptic. This will cause Synaptic to rebuild a default configuration.

[Don]

Bingo!! Thanks so much. I appreciate your time and patience more than I can properly express. (Of course, I realize you're in Minnesota and so don't dare go outside. (My daughter lives in St. Paul.))

[Snowhog]

Glad you got it sorted out. We are only looking at windchill temps around 25 - 35 below over the next day.

[GreyGeek]

Glad you got it sorted out. We are only looking at windchill temps around 25 - 35 below over the next day.

So I take it that you are canceling the outdoor barbecue tomorrow?